


Way Exorcism Consultants

by trustruth



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Ghosts, M/M, Paranormal Investigators, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2016-04-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 17:32:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6667903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trustruth/pseuds/trustruth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Way Exorcism Consultants: They'll handle ghosts, spirits, ghouls, and even low level demons. No client turned away. They also need a new employee and it just so happens that Frank is desperate for a job. <br/>(frerard)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Frank Gets a Job

The 'help wanted' portion of Frank's local newspaper seemed to be shrinking every day he checked it. It had been days of calling to find that someone was already hired, or going to interviews and being turned down. Maybe it was his tattoos, he pondered. As he poured over the ads, Frank half expected his heat to cut out; he hadn't been able to pay the bills in a month. He needed to pay rent, as well, before his landlord evicted him. He pulled out his phone as he saw an ad for a pizzeria, and dialed the number.

"Danny's Pizza," said the crackling voice over the phone.

"Hi, I'm calling about the help wanted ad I saw in today's newspaper?" Frank said, putting on his most polite tone.

"Spot's taken, kid. Sorry."

"It's okay. Thank you for your time."

Frank hung up and ran his fingers through his greasy hair. He'd need to take a shower soon. He returned to the ads, one sticking out to him: _Way Exorcism Consultants, looking for an active person who follows orders. Good pay. Call for details._

Exorcism consultants? The ad seemed more like a joke than an actual inquiry, but Frank reasoned that even if it _wasn't_ a prank, and someone actually answered the phone, it would still be a laugh. With that mindset, Frank called the number listed.

"Way Exorcism Consultants, this is Ray speaking." Frank was surprised someone actually answered.

"Hi, My name's Frank Iero. I'm calling about the ad--"

"You saw the ad!" The person, Ray, exclaimed. Muffled, like he'd turned away from the phone, Ray shouted "Do you hear that, Mikes! Someone saw it!"

"Um... yes I was wondering if you still had an opening?"

"Yes! Can you come in for an interview later today?"

"Yeah. Where are you located?"

"We're on South Street, next to the grocery store. Can you be there at three?"

"Yeah," Frank answered. "But... this isn't a prank, right? The ad is a little..."

"No, no, we aren't a prank. It's an actual business," Ray laughed. "See you at three?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

"No problem."

Frank hung up, baffled that it wasn't just a couple of teenagers fucking around and making a prank. There was still the chance that it was a very elaborate prank, but Frank, in the interest of actually getting a job, chose to believe that it was real. He got up from his seat on the couch and went into the bathroom to shower.

\---

The walk from Frank's apartment to South Street was a pleasant one, taking him through a park filled with bright autumn leaves. Even if the job was a bust, he'd actually gotten out of the house. He reached South Street and soon saw the building next to the grocery store.

It was a brick building, four stories tall. The first floor was the office, with a huge tinted glass window under a sign reading 'Way Exorcism Consultants' in chipped white paint. With a deep breath, Frank pushed open the door and stepped into the cool office.

"Hello!" Came a chipper voice from behind a desk. Frank turned to see what was possibly a man but more likely just an afro. "I'm Ray, you must be here for the interview?"

"Hi--" Frank began, before he was cut off by Ray shouting "Mikey! Interview!"

Frank heard a crash from the back room and a tall, lanky man stumbled into the room. "Frank?"

"Yes. Hi," Frank said, slightly taken aback by the disorder of the place.

"Okay, okay," the tall man said. "Follow me?"

Frank followed him into a back room. There weren't any windows, or maybe there were, but it would have been covered by bookshelves. Every wall had bookshelves of different sizes pushed up against it, and there were even more books piled up on the ground. The man (Mikey, had Ray said?) picked his way around the towers of books towards a desk. Mikey sat down and motioned for Frank to sit down. Frank removed a few books from one of the two chairs facing the desk and sat down.

"So. You're Frank Iero," Mikey said.

"Yes."

"Where have you worked previously?"

"I worked at a repair shop, a couple of retail places... I have a resumé if you want," Frank said quickly.

"Nah," Mikey said waving his hand. "Do you follow instructions well?"

"Yes."

"Do you believe in ghosts, the occult, any gods, or anything of that sort?"

Frank, although knowing the name of the place, was still taken aback by the question. "I... I was raised Catholic. I have no reason to believe in anything though."

"That's alright."

"So what do you actually _do_ here?"

"We help people who have issues with ghosts, the occasional low level demon, stuff like that. Anything we can't handle, we inform people who can help. We never turn a client away," Mikey said, leaning back in his chair. "The pay's not too good, but we can provide lodging. Ray finds it easier to work when he's nearby it constantly."

Despite the odd job description, at the prospect of cheap living, Frank perked his ears. "Where?" He asked.

"My brother and I own the whole building. There's two apartments above here, we share it all."

"So there's only three employees?"

Mikey shrugged. "Four if you want the job." Frank nodded eagerly. "Alright then, you're hired."

\---

**Thank you so much for reading. This is my first fanfic so any constructive criticism is welcome. Thank you!**

 


	2. Two: In Which Frank Meets Gerard and Sorts Stuff

The next day, Frank got to the office at seven forty five, a good fifteen minutes before he was supposed to show up. He hadn't meant to get there so early, but he always prided himself on being punctual and, to be honest, he was nervous with excitement. He's never had such a... strange job before, and he'd barely begun working. Frank had expected to find the place locked up, but the 'open' sign was up and the door was open. Frank stepped in and called out a small 'hello?'

He heard no response so he walked further into the room. Ray wasn't at the desk he'd been at yesterday, so Frank walked to the back room. He pushed open the door to the back room and saw a figure slumped over the desk with their head on an open book. They had slightly greasy black hair that hadn't seen a pair of scissors in ages.

"Hello?" Frank asked again, making his way towards the figure between the piles of books. Frank tapped the sleeping person on the shoulder and they sat up with a shout.

"What the fuck--" the man said, bringing his arms up to shield his face. Slowly he lowered them to look at Frank. "Who the fuck are you?" His words were slurred with sleep.

"I'm..." Frank trailed off, staring at the other man. He was _really_ pretty, Frank decided, and _really_ hot. "I'm Frank. The new employee?"

"What time is it?"

"Seven fifty," Frank said, checking on his phone.

"Shit. Mikey's gonna have a fit," the man said, standing up and attempting to tame his hair. He picked his way around the desk, where a new stack of books had piled up since last Frank was there. "Ah, where're my manners. I'm Gerard Way," he said, sticking out his hand.

Frank took it. "Nice to meet you."

Gerard nodded before pushing past Frank. Frank followed the dark haired man out of the room and into the front of the office. Gerard opened a door that led to a set of stairs. Gerard started up them before turning to Frank.

"C'mon," he said, beckoning.

Frank trailed behind the other man as he walked up the stairs, totally not staring at Gerard's ass. Gerard pushed open the door and Frank followed him into the apartment. It was small, and not very well lit. There was a couch and a small table, and a kitchen.

"MIKEY!" Gerard yelled at the top of his lungs as he walked into the kitchen and began preparing coffee. "Do you want some?" Gerard asked, taking down a few mugs from a cupboard. Frank nodded. "Good. Can you pop some bread into that toaster for me?" Gerard said as he poured out three cups of coffee.

Frank took two slices and put them into the toaster on the kitchen counter, awkwardly standing around as Mikey came into the kitchen.

"Hi Gerard, hi Frank," he said as he took a mug of coffee. Gerard passed Frank one and he took it, sipping the piping hot liquid. "So, Frank, do you like the apartment? Care to move in?"

"Why do you always want people living with us, Mikey?" Gerard whined.

"Because it's nice not having an empty building!"

Gerard rolled his eyes and retrieved his toast from the toaster. He lathered some butter on it and practically inhaled the two slices before the three of them returned to the ground floor.

Ray was sitting at his desk, a laptop open on it and a checkbook in hand.

"Gee, we need at least one more _paying_ case to pay the bills," he said as Gerard made his way to the back room.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll find us one," Gerard said, waving the question off with his hand. "Mikey, show Frank around, yeah?"

Mikey nodded and Gerard disappeared into the back room. As soon as he was gone, Mikey turned to Frank.

"Was he asleep when you came in?" He asked.

"Yeah?" Frank said, confused.

"Good." Mikey extended his arms, gesturing vaguely around the office. "So this is the main room. Ray works out here mostly, and we talk to clients out here, 'cause we don't want them seeing the mess in the office. Under Ray's desk is all of our paperwork, and I _swear_ we _try_ to keep it organized. The back room has all of our research material... you've seen it so I won't try to convince you that there's a rhyme or reason to that mess." Mikey walked over to a filing cabinet next to a chair and opened one of the drawers. He pulled out a thin black notebook and handed it to Frank. "We fill out a notebook for every case we do, research, notes, and then a few pages explaining how the whole thing went. Gerard usually does most of it."

Frank looked at the notebook. It read _Howards' ghost, 6/8/11-6/10/11_ in silver sharpie on the front of it. He opened the notebook and flipped through the pages, newspaper clippings and printed websites were taped to every other page, with notes scrawled illegibly around each. At the back of the notebook, in the same illegible handwriting were about ten pages of dense writing. Frank raised his eyebrows.

"He likes to include _everything_ ," Mikey explained. "But, unfortunately, he doesn't like to order them, so I guess you can do that. Just put them in order by date?"

"Sure," Frank said, looking into the drawer. It was filled with similar black notebooks, thrown in haphazardly. "How long have you been _doing_ this?" Frank asked, surprised at the sheer multitude of the books.

"Gerard's been doing this for... I think seven years. Ray and I've only been here for five," Mikey said, walking over to Ray and peering over his shoulder at whatever was on Ray's laptop.

As Ray and Mikey began a conversation about finances, Frank set about sorting the case notebooks. He started by scooping up all of them and dumping them onto the carpeted floor. Then he sat down and started grouping them by year. Once he had seven piles, he split each of them into months, and gradually made his way through all of them. Occasionally, he'd open one of the notebooks and read a page or two. He'd been working on sorting them for nearly an hour when he pulled out one that had no date on it, only a title, _Forever_. Hoping there would be a date on the inside, Frank opened it. The first page was blank, as were the next couple of pages, then Frank found that some of it had been hollowed out into a quarter sized circle. On the first page where the paper was cut, in small, neat handwriting: _marry me?_

Frank raised his eyebrows, wondering why it was mixed in with the case notebooks. He put it to the side, deciding to ask someone about it later.

Frank continued sorting through the notebooks until noon, making dividers in the filing cabinet to order the notebooks by month.

"Hey, Frankie? Wanna go get lunch?" Ray asked at 12:30.

"Sure," Frank said, closing the filing cabinet. He'd just finished putting away all of the notebooks, but he left the... proposal one on the top of the cabinet.

"Great."

\---

The next couple of days went just like that. Frank would come in, sometimes find Gerard in the office, sort something (he'd gotten through most of the financial paperwork under Ray's desk), or just sit and talk. Mikey was still nagging at him to move in, and Gerard would make him coffee then disappear. Despite his absence in the main room, Gerard had assigned Frank a couple of books to read, just to familiarize himself with the topics he'd have to know about when (and _if_ ) they got a case. It was the weirdest job Frank had ever had, but he was enjoying it.

\---

The next day, Frank was in the living room, watching Ray and Mikey play a game of cards while reading one of the books Gerard had assigned him. The chapter was on tarot cards and their (very few) uses, and it was boring as hell. Frank had forgotten about the time and the fact that he needed to go home. It was nearly midnight. Ray had cooked some pasta earlier, tempting Frank to stay after work, and he never left.

Mikey placed down a winning hand and raised his hands in victory.

"No fair! You cheating bastard!" Ray yelled.

"Sore loser," Mikey taunted.

Frank laughed. The night had been comfortable, just hanging out with friends. _Friends_ , Frank thought. It was nice having friends.

The door to the apartment slammed open with a bang. Frank whirled around to see Gerard stumbling into the apartment. He looked up and saw Frank, Mikey, and Ray in the living room.

"I got us a job!" he slurred. "How 'bout that?"

Mikey stood up and rushed over to Gerard. "C'mon, Gee, I told you to stop picking up clients at bars."

"This one's legit!" Gerard whined, then bent over and vomited on the floor.

"Dammit," Mikey swore and turned back to Ray and Frank. "I'll see you guys tomorrow?"

Both men taking the hint nodded and quickly left the apartment. Ray turned to Frank as they closed the door.

"I'm sorry about Gerard."

"It's okay. Does that happen a lot?"

"Used to happen more," Ray shrugged. "See you tomorrow. If Gee actually got us a case, you'd better expect a long day."

"Okay. Thanks for dinner."

"No problem."

The men parted ways, waving.

\---

**This one is a lot longer than the last chapter... wow. Thank you for reading it! Next chapter we actually start working on the case. See you then! Comments are much appreciated ;D**

 

 


	3. Three: In Which Brendon Thinks he has a Ghost

Gerard was crouched over the toilet, throat raw with bile and his eyes pricking with tears from the stench. It had been at least two weeks since this last happened, he'd been doing well. Mikey sat on the side of the bathtub, watching his brother puke his guts out with a sympathetic stare.

"I promise you, Mikey, I _got_ a case," Gerard pleaded.

Mikey rubbed Gerard's back, saying, "I believe you. It's okay."

"I'm sorry," Gerard wiped off his mouth and sat back from the toilet. "I'm so sorry. I was _trying_ , you know that? I really was."

"I know you were. C'mon, take a shower and go to bed. I'll run to the store and get some advil," Mikey said, helping his older brother up.

"Thanks, Mikes," Gerard said as Mikey left the bathroom.

"Any time, Gee."

Gerard turned on the shower and shed his clothes as he waited for the water to warm up. His head was pounding with both alcohol and thoughts. He _had_ been trying, he wasn't lying when he told Mikey that. He just needed to clear his head and get fucked; he hadn't _meant_ to find a case, he just got talking with this guy and found out that the dude thought he was haunted. Gerard was drunk enough at that point, but he stayed a while with the guy. He never did get laid, but he got a case, which was almost as good.

Gerard stepped under the stream of water and let the hot water clear his head. He barely cleaned himself, just stood and let his muscles relax.

After about twenty minutes, Gerard got out of the shower and dried himself off. He walked to his bedroom, and after pulling on some clothes, collapsed into bed and fell asleep instantly.

\---

Frank had overslept. He woke up at eight, cursing, and practically ran to the office. He got there, out of breath, and muttering apologies to an empty room. Confused as to where everyone was, Frank called out, "hey!"

"Frank!" Mikey called from the back room. Frank hurried into the cluttered room to find Mikey, Gerard, and Ray sitting around. "We were gonna leave without you."

"Leave? Where are we going?"

"New York," Gerard groaned. "Long island or something."

"This is why you should move in!" Mikey exclaimed. "Please?"

Frank nodded. "I mean, my landlord's gonna evict me just 'cause she doesn't like me."

Mikey pumped the air. Ray stood up and stretched.

"Since we're all here, let's go," he said and the four of them left the office.

Apparently Ray was the only one who owned a car, so he got to drive. Mikey called shotgun as soon as they locked up the office, so Frank and Gerard were coerced into sitting in the back seat, where Gerard complained about his legs being cramped and for once Frank was glad he was so short. Frank was exhausted, soon lulled into sleep by the rumble of the car and the radio playing quietly.

What Frank didn't realize was that as he was sleeping, he flopped to the side and ended up with his head in Gerard's lap. Gerard also didn't realize this, because he had taken several painkillers and was trying to sleep off his headache. Only Mikey saw what was happening in the back seat, and he chuckled to himself at the sight of the two dark haired men sleeping on each other.

Frank woke an hour or so later when Ray pulled into the driveway of a large house on the south fork of Long Island. He jolted away, his head parting from Gerard's warm lap with a sharp breath.

Gerard's eyes blinked open. "We're here?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Ah, shit, sorry I fell asleep on you," Frank mumbled, quickly getting out of the car before Gerard could notice his blush.

"Hm?" Gerard hummed, but got out of the car and stretched his legs.

Frank followed behind the other, more experienced men to the door. Ray rang the doorbell and almost immediately it was opened.

"Hello?" Said the man who opened the door. His brown hair was sticking up at angles above his head; he looked frantic.

"Are you Brendon?"

"Oh, thank _god_ ," Brendon said, stepping onto the porch. He saw Gerard and smiled. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem," Gerard smiled. Frank felt uneasy. Brendon was attractive, and, _fuck_ , he didn't want to know what Gerard was thinking at the bar. Didn't most people go to bars alone if they wanted to get laid? Frank tried to ignore his... crush sounded immature... infatuation was too over-the-top... well, whatever it was he had for Gerard and followed Brendon inside as he began to talk.

"So, I don't know what Gerard told you," Brendon said to Mikey. "but I've been getting cold spots in the house, and occasionally things will _move_ , and I swear to god I think I saw a face in my mirror!"

"Was it yours?" Frank asked.

"Shut up," Ray said.

"It wasn't. It looked like a kid!" Brendon said as they entered the kitchen. "Want some coffee? Okay... where was I..." he said as he began making coffee. Gerard and Ray sat down at the counter, and Frank noticed Gerard pull out a slim black notebook. He mentally tried to file the book away with the others. He was thinking of re-sorting them, perhaps alphabetically, or by subject.

"Well, anyways, I'm like 100 percent sure this house is haunted," Brendon finished.

Mikey nodded. "Do you mind if we look around a little?"

"No, not at all," Brendon said. "Do you need me?"

"No," Mikey said. "Ray, you and I will check upstairs. Gee? You show Frank the ropes and take this floor. Check the basement too."

"Okay," Gerard nodded, handing Mikey his notebook and they split up.

Frank walked next to Gerard as they searched around the first floor. There wasn't anything of much interest, although Frank was pretty sure he'd seen a used condom in the bathroom waste paper basket. When the two men were done with the first floor, Brendon was finished making coffee, so both of them snagged a cup and headed down to the basement.

Frank shivered in the cold air as Gerard flipped on the lights.

"Damn," Frank muttered. The air was musty and the concrete floor was covered in dust. "I've always hated basements. Give me the creeps."

"My old bedroom used to be in the basement."

"Did it smell like _this?_ " Frank asked.

"Of course not. It was _clean_ ," Gerard grimaced as he brushed the cobwebs away from his face.

Frank fell into silence. He felt like he'd offended Gerard somehow. "So... what are we looking for?"

"Cold spots, writing on the walls, um... noises and shit I guess?"

Frank nodded and began searching around the cluttered basement. Sipping his hot coffee, he poked at a large chest. Suddenly he felt cold, as if someone had poured icy water over him. Panic filled his brain, and all of the color drained from his face. Frank stumbled backwards, dropping his coffee and the mug shattered. He stood, shaking, back against the wall.

"G-Gerard!" Frank cried out.

Gerard hurried over to Frank. "Oh my god, what happened?"

Frank grabbed Gerard and clung to him. "Oh god, oh god, that was so scary."

"What happened? Are you okay, Frank?" Gerard asked, stroking Frank's hair.

Frank blushed violently, pushing himself off of Gerard. "I-I touched that chest and everything got cold and I got really scared," he blabbered, covering his face. "Oh, shit, I broke Brendon's mug."

"It's okay, Frank," Gerard said, placing a hand on Frank's shoulder. Let's got upstairs and get Mikey and Ray. We'll clean up the mess and see about that chest. You're okay, don't worry."

Frank nodded helplessly and followed Gerard up the stairs. They found Mikey and Ray talking to Brendon in the living room. When Mikey saw them, he handed Gerard his notebook and Gerard read over the notes quickly.

"I broke your mug," Frank mumbled to Brendon. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Brendon said with a curious look. "What happened?"

"I think we found something," Gerard explained. "In the basement."

Brendon's eyes widened to the size of plates. " _Really?_ "

Gerard nodded.

They all went down to the basement, and Gerard showed Mikey and Ray the chest, while Brendon helped Frank clean up the shattered coffee mug. Frank was still in mild shock from touching the chest. After Mikey and Ray looked over the chest, Ray and Gerard stepped back. Mikey extended a hand over the box, closing his eyes.

"What's he doing?" Frank asked Ray, who was standing next to him.

"Mikey's... in touch with the spirit world, I guess," Ray said in a low voice. "He's able to _see_ stuff, sort of. It's hard to explain. You can ask him about it after."

Mikey flinched as he pressed his hand to the chest, and then opened it. He opened his eyes and searched through the box. He pulled out a white dress, but dropped it and stepped back immediately.

"Holy shit," Mikey said, eyes wide.

"What? What's wrong?" Gerard asked his brother.

"I'll tell you guys in the car."

\---

After Brendon thanked the men for their help, they got back into Ray's car and started on the drive back to New Jersey. Mikey had called shotgun again, and was scribbling down stuff in the case notebook.

Frank had moved on from still being scared to being tired. He laid his head against the car window and tried to numb his brain.

"Frank?" Gerard asked. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah."

Gerard sneaked a hand onto Frank's arm, and Frank felt better.

\---

**thank for reading! Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon b/c it's the weekend!**

 

 


	4. Four: In Which Clara Brooks is Murdered

Frank felt his eyelids getting heavier with each blink, begging him for some sleep, or at least some coffee. He was sitting in a chair in the back room, Gerard at his desk, computer open and the glow making him look paler than usual. Frank was reading a book on ghost basics, or rather re-reading it; it was one of the books Gerard assigned him to read when he first started and he'd skimmed the whole thing.

Mikey stuck his head into the room. "Hey, it's almost midnight so I'm gonna head to bed. I'll send Ray down with some coffee."

Gerard nodded in gratitude and Mikey retreated to his bed. _Man, sleep sounds nice_ , Frank sighed, but decided to push through at the prospect of coffee. He flipped the page he was reading and settled a little deeper into his chair.

After a few minutes, Ray brought the two men coffees and proclaimed that he was going to bed as well.

"You guys should get some sleep too," he said as he left.

Gerard shrugged. "I still gotta find out what happened in that house."

"Have you still not found anything?"

"I only started a few minutes ago!"

"What were you doing before?" Frank asked. "For like, you know, _the four hours we've been working back here_?"

"I was trying to figure out what era that wedding dress was from!" Gerard said, looking offended. "And I had to read over everything that Mikey wrote and then write about _that_."

"What wedding dress?" Frank asked.

"That dress in the chest? That was a wedding dress from the fifties. I _knew_ nothing that elaborate and _white_ could be just any old dress."

Frank rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Tell me when you--"

"Got it!" Gerard yelled, jumping up. "A woman was murdered there the night before her wedding!"

"Well _that_ explains it," Frank said, getting up and peering over Gerard's shoulder at the computer screen. He was opened to some newspaper archive, looking at a scanned article with the headline _Young Woman Found Dead on the Eve of Her Wedding_. A small black and white photo accompanied it, reading _Clara Brooks_

"She was very pretty," Gerard remarked and Frank felt his stomach drop. _Of course Gerard's into girls,_ he thought bitterly. Frank wasn't lucky enough for someone with that nice an ass and that kind a touch to possibly be gay. Frank tried to focus on reading the article.

_May 3rd, 1953, Clara Brooks was discovered dead in her bedroom at 184 King Street. Coroners have yet to determine a cause of death, but the twenty year old seemed to be in perfect health. Her fiancé James Thomas, who she was to marry in the morning, is distraught. The funeral will be held..._

"No cause of death?" Frank pondered. "Why's that?"

"Why are you asking me? Maybe something else happened after this," Gerard said, searching for the papers over the next couple of days. "Pull your chair over here," Gerard said, not taking his eyes off of the screen. Frank complied, dragging his chair through the books to perch next to Gerard. He read the papers over the other man's shoulder, looking for anything relating to Clara Brooks' death.

On May 6th, there was another article, saying that traces of poison were found in Clara's blood, and that her fiancé was now suspected of murdering her. Gerard printed out both articles and began pasting them in his notebook. Frank went back to reading his book and sipping his coffee. A few minutes passed in silence before Frank had a worrying thought.

"Gerard?" Frank asked. "Where do you get priests for exorcisms? This _is_ \--"

"We're exorcism _consultants,_ we rarely preform exorcisms ourselves," Gerard said. "And... I used to be a priest."

"What?!" Frank sputtered. " _You_?"

"I left the church after like... A little under a year," Gerard muttered. "It was a strange experience but I can still preform exorcisms, which I don't think we'll need for a simple ghost. You'd know that if you kept reading your book."

"Do you mind me asking... Why'd you leave?" Frank asked timidly.

"I..." Gerard sighed. "I'm queer, Frank. I got sick of the closet and the incense."

Frank's eyes widened. Gerard wasn't straight! He just had one surprise coming after another.

"What's that look for? You aren't homophobic are you?" Gerard asked angrily.

"No, no! Quite the opposite. _I'm_ gay. You just surprised me," Frank explained.

"Shit. I owe Mikey five bucks." Gerard smiled.

"You were betting on my sexuality?" Frank mocked offense.

"Well, I was hoping you were queer but I didn't think I'd be that lucky. That's why Mikey wins the bet," Gerard mumbled.

 _He was hoping I was gay?!_ Frank thought, blushing. The two men fell into an awkward silence, tension so thick in the air you could cut it.

"Um..." Gerard mumbled, not making eye contact with Frank. "It's late, do you wanna sleep here tonight?"

Frank nodded. He didn't want to walk home this early in the morning. Gerard got up and both men walked upstairs to Gerard and Mikey's apartment. Gerard quickly made up a bed on the couch.

"I don't think you wanna sleep in my bed," Gerard laughed. "My room's a mess anyways."

Frank nodded and collapsed onto the couch. "Thanks, dude."

"No problem," Gerard said with a small smile. "Goodnight, Frank."

"Night, Gerard."

Frank covered his face with his hands as soon as Gerard left the room. He felt like a fifteen year old again, with stupid crushes and no confidence, but he was too tired to stay worried and awake, so he fell into a dreamless sleep.

\---

**Okay this one's a little short and I'm not super proud of it but I hope you liked it. Comment plz?**

 


	5. Part Five: In Which the Gang Visits Brendon's Again

Gerard meandered into his kitchen in search of coffee, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and humming tunelessly to himself. He looked out over the counter into the living room, where his eyes fell onto a blanket covered lump on his sofa. It took Gerard a moment to remember that _Frank_ was on his couch. From where he was standing, Gerard could see Frank's dark hair poking out from under the blankets and could hear the man softly snoring. After staring for a few seconds, he blushed, feeling like a creep. Gerard went back to his task: making coffee.

            Unfortunately, that task was quite loud. Gerard's coffee grinder was an ancient thing, and every time he used it the noise got worse. He flinched as he turned it on.

            "Ah!" Gerard heard someone shout.

            "Sorry Frank!" He shouted back through the cacophony.

            When the coffee grinder was done, Gerard turned to glace at Frank, who was sitting on the couch with the blanket wrapped around him and his hair sticking up in all directions. He let out a snort at the disheveled man.

            "Sorry for waking you... you'll get coffee," he promised.

            "Thank _god_ ," Frank said, getting up. Not unwrapping himself from the blanket he shuffled into the kitchen. He leaned against the counter in wait for his promised coffee, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with a blanketed hand. "So what are we doing today?"

            "Well, since I couldn't find a cause of death for our ghost, I think it's best we ask her ourselves."

            "We're gonna have a _séance?_ " Frank asked, wide eyed. "With a Ouija board and everything?"

            "Well, maybe no a ouija board. Mikey's good at actually hearing ghosts," Gerard said, pouring out two cups of coffee and handing one to Frank. "Speaking of which, I should go wake him up. We should leave soon."

\---

            Frank and Gerard both got stuck in the back seat again, but neither fell asleep this time. All four men stayed wide awake as they made their way to Brendon's house, the conversation rambling from one topic to another with no rhyme or reason. Eventually, they reached the house and gratefully got out of the car. Brendon welcomed them yet again, but this time he looked scared.

            "It started moving around furniture!" He said. "I had to sleep at my friend's house and _trust me_ I hate staying at his house."

            Gerard nodded, writing something down in his ever-present notebook. "Mikey? Wanna do your shit?"

            "Sure," Mikey said, aimlessly pacing the room. "Let me get a sense for her."

            "Do you want us to get the chest out of the basement?" Ray asked.

            "Good idea. Wear gloves or something if you don't want a shock like Frank got."

            Ray nodded and Brendon led him down into the basement. They returned a few seconds later with the chest wrapped in an old bed sheet. Ray laid the chest and the sheet out in the middle of the living room and Mikey sat down cross-legged in front of it. Everyone else stood at the edges of the sheet, watching carefully as Mikey laid a hand on the chest. Frank inhaled sharply as the room went cold.

            "Clara?" Mikey asked the room. "Are you here?" Frank watched as Mikey stiffened. "It's alright, Clara, we're here to help."

            _No_.

            Frank heard it the word, and shivers ran down his back. Mikey had obviously heard it too.

            "You have to trust me, Clara. We want justice for you. Do you know who killed you?"

            _I know why I am dead. I know why_ you _will be dead, too, sinner!_

            Gerard stepped back from his place at the edge of the sheet. His face was pale and he looked like he was going to be sick. As he backed up, Frank saw the bookshelf behind him begin to tip, and he lunged to push Gerard out of the way. Frank heard a crash and his left arm erupted into pain, and with that, everything went black.

\---

**Sorry for the long wait and such a short chapter. I've been literally drowning in school work for the past week. Thank you for reading!**


	6. Six: In Which Frank Has a Broken Arm

Frank was only out for a few seconds, but it was enough time for Gerard to get worried. He and Brendon had gotten the bookcase off of Frank's arm before he came to, but there was still a mess of books on the ground. Frank woke with a groan of pain and rolled over, grabbing his crushed arm.

"Frank! Oh my god, Frank, don't _do that_!" Gerard assaulted the shorter man.

"Jesus Christ, Gerard! Give him some space!" Ray exclaimed, kneeling down next to Frank. "Oh man, that looks _bad_ ," he said as he inspected Frank's arm. "Like, _hospital bad_."

"Damn right it's bad!" Frank shouted. Tears were pricking at his eyes. "It _hurts_ , goddamn it hurts."

"It's gonna be okay, Frankie," Gerard said, helping Frank move into a sitting position.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" Mikey asked Brendon.

"A-a mile or so away—"

"I'll drive," Ray said.

"No, I can take him," Gerard piped up. "You guys finish up here. Meet us at the hospital?"

Ray and Mikey nodded with concerned looks as Gerard helped Frank to his feet and led the cringing man out to the car. Gerard strapped Frank in and hurriedly got into the drivers seat, pulling up directions to the hospital on his phone. As he pulled out of Brendon's driveway, Gerard hit a bump and Frank gasped with pain.

arm.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Frank mumbled.

"We'll be there soon," Gerard tried to console Frank.

He wasn't lying. Gerard pulled up to the hospital after a five minute drive and he walked Frank into the emergency room. Gerard led the way to the nurse's desk and got the nurse's attention.

"Hello, what's wrong?"

"My friend," Gerard said, "He broke his arm."

"I'll call a doctor. Do you mind filling out some paperwork?"

Frank and Gerard nodded in unison as the nurse gave them a few sheets of paper.

Frank sighed as he looked over them. "Can you fill these out for me?" He asked, looking up at Gerard.

"Sure," Gerard said, taking the papers and beginning to fill out a few things. "Do you have insurance?"

"No. Shit. I forgot this was gonna cost me money," Frank's already low mood fell even deeper. Fuck America for not having good healthcare.

"Don't worry about it. I can pay for it with the job money."

Frank was surprised. "You don't have to!"

Gerard raised his eyebrows. "Of course I have to, you saved my life!"

"Hardly," Frank pouted. "I just pushed you out of the way."

"Still, you saved me," Gerard said with a genuine smile.

"Fine. Okay," Frank caved. "You pay."

Eventually, a doctor came to take Frank to get x-rays done. When the doctor, a kind looking middle aged woman, came back with the x-rays, she showed Frank and Gerard that Frank's arm had been snapped in two places.

"You're lucky it didn't shatter. What did you say cause it again?"

"A bookshelf fell on it," Frank explained.

The doctor raised her eyebrows. "Alright then. We'll be able to set your arm in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Frank and Gerard said in unison. She left, leaving the two men alone in a curtained off cubicle.

After a few seconds of silence, Gerard said, "I really do mean it. I'm grateful for what you did."

"I know you are," Frank said. "I know you would have done the same."

Gerard nodded vigorously. "And so much more."

Frank's eyes widened as he turned to face Gerard, his cheeks warming. "What do you mean by that?"

Gerard bit his lip, debating his next move. "I've only known you for a little over a week, but I like you. You're a great friend."

"You are too," Frank said, his face morphing from surprised to concerned. "What's up?"

"It's nothing, I--" Gerard felt a hand on his cheek and lifted his eyes to meet Frank's. Frank gave him a warm smile before placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

"I'm always here if you need me," Frank said with a small smile as he pulled away from the other man.

Gerard sat slack jawed for what seemed like hours.

"Shit, should I not have done that?" Frank winced. "I'm sorry."

"No, no!" Gerard waved his hands as if trying to brush away Frank's words. "I... I liked it."

Frank heaved a relieved sigh. "I liked it too."

Both men stiffened as the doctor pulled open the curtain. "I'm ready to set the bone. It's gonna hurt a lot, I'm not gonna lie."

"Oh joy," Frank laughed.

\---

Frank could take a good amount of pain, he knew that. He'd been happy at how well he'd been handling the pain of his broken arm, but _man_ did getting it set hurt. That aside, it hurt a lot less now, wrapped up in a clunky white cast.

He and Gerard were still sitting in the little curtained off room, a somewhat awkward tension between them, when Mikey and Ray burst in.

"Frank! How are you? Does it still hurt?" Ray asked as soon as he walked in.

"I'm okay, Ray," Frank smiled.

"I think I figured out why the ghost is still around," Mikey said. "She said some stuff about the night she was murdered, I'll tell you all in the car. I'm still not sure what she meant when she did that whole 'sinner' thing."

Gerard nodded. "I have an idea about it. We can talk about it later, but I think we should take Frank home to rest."

Frank nodded in agreement. He was exhausted.

"Okay, let's go," Ray said.

\---

**Thank you for reading! There's gonna be some major filler-fluff in the next chapter, then back to the plot. I don't think there will be more than four more chapters, maybe three, and I have next week off from school so I might be able to finish this soon! Comments please? ily bye**


	7. Seven: In Which Frank is High on Painkillers and Doesn't Care

Before they left the hospital, Frank got doped up on painkillers that put him way out of it. Gerard led him to the car and put him in the back seat, helping him strap in.

"I'm not a baby," Frank giggled, swatting at Gerard as he tried to help.

"You sure are acting like one," Gerard said, rolling his eyes and letting his hand linger on Frank's for a second before hurrying to get into the car himself.

Frank and Gerard stole quick glances at each other, Frank giggling each time he met Gerard's eyes. When Ray pulled onto the highway, Frank slid his hand to Gerard's, giving it a quick squeeze before pulling away. Gerard caught Mikey's stare in the rearview mirror and glared at his brother, shouting _none of your business_ with only his eyes.

"So," Mikey said, raising his eyebrows in response to Gerard's glare. "The ghost."

"Yeah. What happened after we left?" Gerard asked his brother.

"She was murdered on her wedding night. You guys found that out before, but she said some stuff about her fiancé being unfaithful, and that she was poisoned. I think her fiancé killed her, probably because he found out she knew he was unfaithful," Mikey said, handing Gerard the black case notebook. "I wrote it all down."

Gerard nodded, opening the book and pulling a pen out of his pocket.

"We still don't know why she pushed the bookshelf over or did that whole 'sinner' thing," Ray added. "You said you had an idea, Gee?"

"Mm? Oh, yeah," Gerard kept his eyes down. "It's just an idea... might not have any truth..."

"What is it?" Frank asked, not having any of Gerard's stalling.

"When I left the church, I got called that a lot for, y'know, being queer and everything," Gerard said in a small voice. "She might've meant that."

Frank grabbed Gerard's hand, not caring if Mikey looked back at them. He couldn't find the words to try to console Gerard, so he hoped the physical contact could transfer his feelings to Gerard, trying to send him happy feelings.

"Sorry," Mikey said. "You could be right... I mean, when did she die? The fifties? Those weren't the... best times to be alive."

"Yeah," Gerard said. "I dunno, it was just a thought."

\---

For the first time since they first kissed, Frank and Gerard were alone together. Mikey and Ray were at the store, picking up food for dinner and salt. Apparently, people who dealt with ghosts for a living could forget to buy salt. This left Frank and Gerard alone where Ray and Mikey had left them, sat down in front of the tv, watching the news. Gerard was re-reading the case notebook, barely looking up. Frank sat on the other end of the couch, awkwardly fiddling with his cast. The pain killers were beginning to wear off, and his arm was thrumming softly with slight pain.

"Gee?" Frank said quietly.

Gerard looked up at Frank, their eyes meeting. He looked back down, biting his lip. "Uhuh?"

"Can we talk about it?"

"What? The kiss?" Gerard said.

"Yeah," Frank said, pulling his legs up under him and turning his whole body to face Gerard.

"I don't think there's a lot to talk about," Gerard said. "We kissed, that's it."

"But..." Frank drew back, slightly hurt. "What if I wanted to kiss you again?"

Gerard's eyes widened as he looked at the other man. " _Do_ you?"

Frank nodded hastily, pushing himself slightly closer to Gerard. Gerard grabbed Franks good arm and pulled him into a tight hug, Frank's weight pushing him down onto his back. Frank pushed himself up slightly, straddling Gerard and leaning down to kiss him. Gerard kissed back harder, pulling Frank back down. The two men lay intertwined for a few minutes, kissing and giggling softly. Gerard wrapped his arms around Frank's waist, letting the shorter man continue to lie on him, face buried in Gerard's neck.

"Frank?" Gerard whispered.

"Mhm?" Frank hummed turning his head to look at Gerard.

"Your cast is digging into my chest."

"Oh, sorry!" Frank said moving his arm out so that it was hanging off the side of the couch.

Gerard ran his hand up and down Frank's back. "Does it still hurt?"

"Not too much," Frank said. "It was worth breaking it."

"What do you mean by that?" Gerard exclaimed.

Frank giggled. "Cause I got to kiss you. Twice. And save your life, but mainly I got to kiss you."

Gerard smiled. "You're such a sap."

Frank grinned back and lay his head back down on Gerard. "Only when it comes to you."

They heard the apartment door open, and Mikey called out "We're home!"

Gerard pushed Frank up and the quickly scooted to opposite sides of the couch before Mikey and Ray caught sight of them.

"Hey, Mikeyway!" Gerard said hastily. "What's for dinner?"

**So, there was a little plot in here. Sorry it's so short. I'm actually pretty proud of this story, not because it's well written (because god no it's horribly written. very bland) or because people read it (they dont) but i've actually kept at it and I'm confident I'll be able to finish! So, yeah, any one who's read this, i'm very happy you did. <3**


End file.
